


Remedy

by SerenityLost



Category: The Arcana (Visual Novel)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-09
Updated: 2018-05-09
Packaged: 2019-05-01 02:49:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14510889
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SerenityLost/pseuds/SerenityLost
Summary: Evelin has had a bad day, and Julian does his best to ease her troubled mind.Evelin belongs toAmbie (noonvraith).





	Remedy

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Ambie (noonvraith)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/noonvraith/gifts).



She sat on a rock overlooking the meadow. It was one of her favorites: bright yellow daffodils littered the landscape, accented by a marvelous array of wildflowers of every color. It was quiet, peaceful, far from the city’s clamor, and she could sit alone for hours just watching the way the constellations of flowers shifted and swayed in the wind – her own personal galaxy hidden among tall grass.

Today, though, Evelin barely noticed the flowers. Her mind was miles away, in a place far less bright. A place where blood and bile covered her hands all the way up to the elbow, where broken cries and dying gasps assaulted her ears. Where her best was not enough. Where even the smallest mistake…

Did she make a mistake?

_No. No. It’s not my fault. It’s not my fault. It’s not my fault._

She gazed unseeing out at the meadow, lost in her own mind. Wind swept gently through her hair, cool and soothing where it brushed against her skin.

“I thought I might find you here.”

The familiar voice startled her out of her reverie, and she blinked, disoriented. How long had she been sitting here? Minutes? Hours?

She turned just as Julian hopped up to join her atop the boulder. He slid easily to her side, one long arm reaching out to wrap around her shoulders and pull her close against him.

“So what are we thinking about today, darling? No, wait – let me guess. You’re trying to decide what type of flower to use for your next crown? Or...you’re devising a magical spell to keep the mice out of you pantry?”

“Ilya…”

“Wait, don’t tell me, I’ve got it. You’ve got that misty, far-away look because you’ve spent all day pining after your favorite fugitive doctor.”

He broke out the grin – yes, _that_ grin. The one that made it hard to feel sorry for him but impossible to look away. The one where his eyebrows did acrobatics near his hairline and Evelin couldn’t help herself but laugh.

Today the laugh was soft and faded quickly. She looked away, gazing back out across the meadow.

“I lost a patient today,” she said softly.

“...ah.” He went quiet for a minute, then: “I’m sorry.”

She didn’t respond, still staring into the distance, still haunted by her own thoughts.

“Tch. Well. The doctor is in, and I have just the thing for that.” Julian slipped off the boulder, leaving the air suddenly, starkly cool against Evelin’s side, and began to root around in the grass.

When he returned, he was clutching a messy spray of flowers. He leapt onto the boulder once more, and sidled up beside her.

“Now, for your ills I am prescribing you: two big blue flowers…”

Julian plucked the blues from his small bouquet and gently began to entwine them into her hair, adding to the crown of flowers she already wore.

“...one of these, ah– strangely-shaped yellow ones…”

Evelin let her head drop against his chest, feeling the soft thrum of his heart as he slipped the yellow flower into her hair.

“...about a dozen of these tiny white things – these are all over the place, you know...”

He continued to thread flower after flower into her hair: small ones, large ones, bright ones, soft ones, babbling on as he went. She took comfort in the warmth of his presence, in the feeling of long fingers brushing through her hair. His touch soothed her, and his voice was a welcome respite from the disquiet of her own thoughts.

And for a little while – for now at least – she needed nothing else.


End file.
